Differential effects of prazosin and naftopidil on pelvic blood flow and nitric oxide synthase levels in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

We compared the effects of two alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists with different selectivity for the alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes, prazosin and naftopidil, on pelvic blood flow and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) levels in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). SHRs and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were distributed initially in four groups: group 1 received prazosin, a subtype nonselective alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist (2 mg/kg/day); group 2 received naftopidil, a selective alpha(1A/D)-adrenoceptor antagonist (10 mg/kg/day); group 3 received cyclazosin, a selective alpha(1B)-adrenoceptor antagonist (5 mg/kg/day); and group 4 received the vehicle orally for 4 weeks. Pelvic blood flow was determined by using a fluorescent microsphere infusion technique.

Pupillary response induced by acupuncture stimulation--an experimental study.

Objectives: To investigate whether acupuncture stimulation affects autonomic nerve function by measuring pupil diameters with electronic pupillography.

Methods: Two studies were conducted (Experiment 1 and 2) in the Tsukuba University of Technology, Tsukuba, Japan. Experiment 1 examined the responses before, during and after acupuncture.

Pharmacological effects of solifenacin on human isolated urinary bladder.

To investigate the effects of solifenacin on human detrusor smooth muscles, we evaluate the effects of solifenacin on the contractions induced by carbachol, KCl, CaCl2 and electrical field stimulation (EFS), and the EFS-induced acetylcholine release from detrusor smooth muscle strips by using the muscle bath and microdialysis technique. The effects of solifenacin were also compared with effects of other antimuscarinic agents (atropine, oxybutynin and propiverine). Pretreatment with various antimuscarinic agents caused parallel shifts to the right of the concentration-response curves to carbachol.

Expression of two isozymes of acyl-coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase-1 and -2 in clear cell type renal cell carcinoma.

Objectives: The present study investigated the expression of acyl-coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase-1 (ACAT-1) and -2 in clear cell type renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Methods: Clear cell type RCC and corresponding normal kidney tissue samples were obtained from 19 surgical cases (28-85 years of age). Tissue extracts were assayed for ACAT activity and protein expression by immunoblotting with anti-ACAT-1 and anti-ACAT-2 antibodies.

[Case report of calcifying fibrous pseudotumor of the adrenal grand].

Calcifying fibrous (pseudo) tumour (CFP) is an uncommon and distinct pathological entity, which is usually occurring in the soft tissue of the extremities, trunk, axilla, pleura, mediastinum and peritoneum. We report a case of CFP of the adrenal gland. A 29-years-old previously healthy woman complained the left lumbago.

Pharmacological effects of propiverine and its active metabolite, M-1, on isolated human urinary bladder smooth muscle, and on bladder contraction in rats.

Objective: To investigate the effects of M-1, a major active metabolite of propiverine on the bladder.

Methods: We have evaluated the effects of M-1 on the contractions induced by carbachol, KCl, CaCl(2), and electrical field stimulation (EFS) in human detrusor smooth muscles, and pelvic nerve stimulation-induced bladder contractions in rats. The effects of M-1 were also compared with the effects of propiverine and tolterodine.

Change in acetylcholine release from rat bladder with partial outlet obstruction.

Objective: To investigate changes in acetylcholine release from the bladder of rats with partial bladder outlet obstruction (BOO), as partial BOO leads to hypertrophy and an alteration in the contractions of the detrusor smooth muscle, and acetylcholine plays an important role in urinary bladder contractions but there is little available information on acetylcholine release after BOO.

Material And Methods: Partial BOO was induced in adult female rats by ligating the proximal urethra over a 1 mm angiocatheter; sham-operated rats served as controls. The rats were killed 2 weeks, 3 and 6 months after induction of BOO.

[Bilateral pheochromocytomas with von Hippel-Lindau disease: a case report].

A case of bilateral pheochromocytomas with von Hippel Lindau disease (VHL) is reported. A 32-year-old man visited Kumamoto Red Cross Hospital for further examination of hypertension. Computed tomography revealed bilateral adrenal tumors and noradrenalin levels in serum and urine were elevated.

Effects of doxazosin on blood flow and mRNA expression of nitric oxide synthase in the spontaneously hypertensive rat genitourinary tract.

Hypertension may impact pelvic arterial blood flow resulting in reduction of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) levels. Although doxazosin, an alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist, has been shown to improve erectile dysfunction as well as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and hypertension, it is not clear whether these improvements using doxazosin are primarily due to direct actions on the prostate, urinary bladder and penis, possibly via inhibition of vascular alpha(1)-adrenoceptors, or other sites of actions. Therefore, we investigated effects of doxazosin to the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) on blood flow and NOS levels in the genitourinary tract.

Docetaxel, low-dose estramustine, and doxifluridine in hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer.

Purpose: Advanced prostate cancer, which is one of the most common cancers, usually progresses to hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). A recent randomized trial of treatment with docetaxel demonstrated improved survival for patients with HRPC. The combination of docetaxel and estramustine phosphate (estramustine) has been reported to be effective for HRPC.

Overexpression of B7-H1 (PD-L1) significantly associates with tumor grade and postoperative prognosis in human urothelial cancers.

Purpose: The programmed death-1 (PD-1)/B7-H1 (also called PD-L1) pathway negatively regulates T cell activation and has been suggested to play an important role in regulating antitumor host immunity. To investigate the clinical significance of B7-H1 expression to the tumor grade and postoperative prognosis of patients with urothelial cancer, we analyzed the relationship between B7-H1 expression and various clinicopathological features and postoperative prognosis.

Experimental Design: Sixty-five urothelial cancer cases were examined.

Lower urinary tract dysfunction in type 1 familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy in Kumamoto, Japan.

Objective: To evaluate lower urinary tract dysfunction of type 1 familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) patients in Kumamoto, Japan.

Methods: Lower urinary tract symptoms were evaluated in FAP patients. Urodynamic studies were evaluated in FAP patients as compared to those in control subjects.

Mass screening for prostate cancer in patients with end-stage renal disease: a comparative study.

Objective: To determine the usefulness of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), as although serum PSA is effective in the early detection of this cancer in the general population, there are few reports of its utility in patients with ESRD.

Patients And Methods: Blood samples were obtained for PSA screening from April 2002 to September 2003; 1250 men with ESRD aged >50 years were compared with 1007 healthy control men aged >55 years, all in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. All men with a serum PSA level of >4.

Neurologic toxicity associated with interferon alpha therapy for renal cell carcinoma.

A 67-year-old man received interferon alpha (IFN alpha) therapy for lung metastases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Multiple pulmonary metastases disappeared completely. However, neurological toxicity was detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as abnormal brain lesions.

Prostaglandin E2 release from isolated bladder strips in rats with spinal cord injury.

Aim: Recent studies have shown that various factors contribute to the increased excitability into the bladder afferent nerves in spinal cord injury (SCI) rats. It has been reported that prostaglandins (PG) act as local modulators of reflex micturition in pathological conditions. In the present study, we measured the amount of PGE2 release from the bladder of chronic SCI rats.

Transrectal high-intensity focused ultrasound in the treatment of localized prostate cancer: a multicenter study.

We report a multicenter trial with transrectal high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the treatment of localized prostate cancer. A total of 72 consecutive patients with stage T1c-2NOM0 prostate cancer were treated using the Sonablate 500TM HIFU device (Focus Surgery, Indianapolis, USA). Biochemical recurrence was defined according to the criteria recommended by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Consensus Panel.

Age-related alterations in the biochemical and functional properties of the bladder in type 2 diabetic GK rats.

Previous studies have demonstrated that experimental type 1 diabetes induced by streptozotocin causes alterations in the biochemical and functional properties of several receptor systems in the rat bladder. However, the exact mechanism involved in the pathophysiology of voiding dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients is unknown. Because the GK rat is a widely accepted genetically determined rodent model for human type 2 diabetes, we investigated diabetes-induced changes in the bladder smooth muscle of the GK rats at several time points.

Electroporation-mediated muscarinic M3 receptor gene transfer into rat urinary bladder.

Background: Muscarinic M3 (M3) receptor has been recognized as a major muscarinic receptor for smooth muscle contractions of the urinary bladder. Under the hypothesis that overexpression of M3 receptor in the urinary bladder would enhance urinary bladder contractions, we have transferred the M3 receptor gene into rat bladders using electroporation (EP) and evaluated the functional expression of the transferred gene.

Methods: Plasmids expressing luciferase, a green fluorescence protein and M3 receptor were injected into the rat bladder and square-wave electric pulses were immediately applied.

Acetylcholine release from urinary bladder smooth muscles of non-insulin-dependent diabetic rats.

Introduction: To investigate the mechanism of voiding dysfunction in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, we attempted to measure the acetylcholine (ACh) release using an in vivo microdialysis technique and measuring the detrusor pressure after electrical field stimulation (EFS) of the pelvic nerve.

Materials And Methods: Eight- and 32-week-old female Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus model) and age-matched female Wistar rats (controls) were used in this study. The pelvic nerve was exposed on a bipolar platinum electrode to EFS, and a cannula was inserted into the bladder to measure the detrusor pressure.

Isolated renal tuberculosis following intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy for bladder cancer.

We present a case of isolated renal tuberculosis following bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy for bladder cancer. In the presurgical radiographic examination, we suspected an atypical renal cell carcinoma. According to the diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma, we performed a radical nephrectomy.

Radical cystectomy for invasive bladder cancer: results of multi-institutional pooled analysis.

Background: We report the outcome of radical cystectomy for patients with invasive bladder cancer, who did not have regional lymph node or distant metastases, at 21 hospitals.

Methods: Retrospective, non-randomized, multi-institutional pooled data were analyzed to evaluate outcomes of patients who received radical cystectomy. Between 1991 and 1995, 518 patients with invasive bladder cancer were treated with radical cystectomy at 21 hospitals.

Chemohormonal therapy as primary treatment for metastatic prostate cancer: a randomized study of estramustine phosphate plus luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist versus flutamide plus luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist.

Background: The present study was undertaken mainly to investigate whether chemohormonal therapy with estramustine phosphate plus luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist has a more beneficial effect than the hormonal therapy with flutamide plus LHRH agonist for newly diagnosed patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

Methods: A total of 57 patients with metastatic prostate cancer aged 59-80 years (median 74 years) were entered in the study and were randomized to the treatment of estramustine phosphate (560 mg/day) plus LHRH agonist (estramustine group) or flutamide (375 mg/day) plus LHRH agonist (flutamide group) with stratification for the degree of performance status, histological differentiation and bone metastasis.

Results: Both of the treatment regimens were well tolerated with similar incidences of adverse drug reactions.

Effects of diabetes on nitric oxide-mediated relaxations in male rat corpus cavernosum smooth muscle.

Introduction: We evaluated the effects of diabetes on nitric oxide-mediated relaxations and nitric oxide synthase activity in male rat corpus cavernosum smooth muscles.

Methods: Eight-week-old male rats were assigned to three groups: control (injected with the vehicle), DM (diabetes mellitus, induced by injection with 65 mg/kg streptozotocin), and TES (testosterone, testosterone supplemented after induction of diabetes). After 8 weeks, corpus cavernosum smooth muscle strips were mounted in an organ bath for isometric tension recordings.

Pharmacological effects of darifenacin on human isolated urinary bladder.

Darifenacin [(S)-2--2,2-diphenylacetamide] is a novel antimuscarinic drug currently undergoing phase III trials for the treatment of overactive bladder. We investigated the functional antagonist potency of darifenacin, and the antimuscarinic drugs propiverine, oxybutynin and atropine, on human detrusor smooth muscle. Urinary bladder specimens were obtained from 20 patients who underwent total cystectomy for malignant bladder tumor.

Pharmacological effects of KRP-197 on the human isolated urinary bladder.

KRP-197, 4-(2-methylimidazol-l-yl)-2,2-diphenylbutyramide, is a newly synthesized antimuscarinic drug, developed for the treatment for overactive bladder. For evaluation of pharmacological characteristics of KRP-197, we investigated whether it influenced both prejunctional and postjunctional muscarinic receptors on the isolated human detrusor smooth muscles as compared with the effects of atropine, oxybutynin, and propiverine. Using the muscle bath technique, we investigated the effects of various antimuscarinic drugs on the contractions induced by carbachol, KCl, CaCl(2), and electrical field stimulation.